Abstract

During embryogenesis, the fetal liver becomes the main hematopoietic organ, where stem and progenitor cells as well as immature and mature immune cells form an intricate cellular network. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside in a specialized niche, which is essential for their proliferation and differentiation. However, the cellular and molecular determinants contributing to this fetal HSC niche remain largely unknown. Macrophages are the first differentiated hematopoietic cells found in the developing liver, where they are important for fetal erythropoiesis by promoting erythrocyte maturation and phagocytosing expelled nuclei. Yet, whether macrophages play a role in fetal hematopoiesis beyond serving as a niche for maturing erythroblasts remains elusive. Here, we investigate the heterogeneity of macrophage populations in the murine fetal liver to define their specific roles during hematopoiesis. Using a single-cell omics approach combined with spatial proteomics and genetic fate-mapping models, we found that fetal liver macrophages cluster into distinct yolk sac-derived subpopulations and that long-term HSCs are interacting preferentially with one of the macrophage subpopulations. Fetal livers lacking macrophages show a delay in erythropoiesis and have an increased number of granulocytes, which can be attributed to transcriptional reprogramming and altered differentiation potential of long-term HSCs. Together, our data provide a detailed map of fetal liver macrophage subpopulations and implicate macrophages as part of the fetal HSC niche.

Data availability

RNA-seq data from bulk and single-cell experiments are available under GEO accession number GSE225444. Source data for CODEX pictures (raw .tiff files) and analyses are available as pyramidal file at Dryad (Mass, Elvira (2023), Source Data Kayvanjoo et al., Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fn2z34v00). Due to size restrictions, the original CODEX .czi files could not be uploaded, but will be made available without restrictions after contacting the corresponding author.

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Amir Hossein Kayvanjoo

    Developmental Biology of the Immune System, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1315-8336
  2. Iva Splichalova

    Developmental Biology of the Immune System, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. David Alejandro Bejarano

    Quantitative Systems Biology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Hao Huang

    Developmental Biology of the Immune System, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3878-3947
  5. Katharina Mauel

    Developmental Biology of the Immune System, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Nikola Makdissi

    Developmental Biology of the Immune System, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9345-038X
  7. David Heider

    Developmental Biology of the Immune System, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Hui Ming Tew

    Developmental Biology of the Immune System, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Nora Reka Balzer

    Developmental Biology of the Immune System, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-9895-7051
  10. Eric Greto

    Department of Internal Medicine 3-Rheumatology and Immunology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  11. Collins Osei-Sarpong

    Immunogenomics & Neurodegeneration, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  12. Kevin Baßler

    Genomics and Immunoregulation, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4780-372X
  13. Joachim L Schultze

    Genomics and Immunoregulation, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  14. Stefan Uderhardt

    Department of Internal Medicine 3-Rheumatology and Immunology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  15. Eva Kiermaier

    Immune and Tumor Biology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-6165-5738
  16. Marc Beyer

    Genomics and Immunoregulation, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  17. Andreas Schlitzer

    Quantitative Systems Biology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  18. Elvira Mass

    Developmental Biology of the Immune System, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
    For correspondence
    emass@uni-bonn.de
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2318-2356

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (EXC2151-390873048)

  • Joachim L Schultze
  • Eva Kiermaier
  • Marc Beyer
  • Andreas Schlitzer
  • Elvira Mass

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (505539112)

  • Stefan Uderhardt

Hightech Agenda Bavaria

  • Stefan Uderhardt

Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (101039438)

  • Stefan Uderhardt

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (GRK2168)

  • Katharina Mauel
  • Elvira Mass

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (GRK1873/2)

  • Elvira Mass

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB1454)

  • Joachim L Schultze
  • Marc Beyer
  • Andreas Schlitzer
  • Elvira Mass

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (FOR5547 - Project-ID 503306912)

  • Elvira Mass

Boehringer Ingelheim Stiftung

  • Katharina Mauel

Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (851257)

  • Elvira Mass

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (448121430)

  • Stefan Uderhardt

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (405969122)

  • Stefan Uderhardt

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations of the LANUV and Veterinary Office of the City of Bonn. All of the animals were handled according to approved institutional animal care at the LIMES GRC. The protocol was approved by the LANUV (Permit Number: 2018.A056).

Copyright

© 2024, Kayvanjoo et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Amir Hossein Kayvanjoo
  2. Iva Splichalova
  3. David Alejandro Bejarano
  4. Hao Huang
  5. Katharina Mauel
  6. Nikola Makdissi
  7. David Heider
  8. Hui Ming Tew
  9. Nora Reka Balzer
  10. Eric Greto
  11. Collins Osei-Sarpong
  12. Kevin Baßler
  13. Joachim L Schultze
  14. Stefan Uderhardt
  15. Eva Kiermaier
  16. Marc Beyer
  17. Andreas Schlitzer
  18. Elvira Mass
(2024)
Fetal liver macrophages contribute to the hematopoietic stem cell niche by controlling granulopoiesis
eLife 13:e86493.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.86493

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.86493

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